6 Step Guide to Keyword Research that Turns Your Content into a Lead Machine

 

6 Step Guide to Keyword Research that Turns Your Content into a Lead Machine

A search engine is the starting point for 93 percent of online experiences. It is critical to ensure that your company ranks well in search engines if you want to be found online.

Keyword research is the first and most important stage in creating an SEO plan. However, how you conduct keyword research for your homepage will differ from how you conduct keyword research for your content, such as blog posts and podcasts. Furthermore, keyword research and content production should work in tandem.

You may plan and generate content that speaks directly to searchers' purpose and desires as you research your keywords and learn to understand how prospects search.

Here's a simple six-step approach to help you kickstart your content research and attract the correct kind of visitors — the kind that converts.

Let's start with a definition of keyword research.

What is Keyword Research?

Keyword research is the act of locating and evaluating common search phrases that people use to find your material on search engines like Google, and then strategically incorporating them into your content so that it appears higher on the search engine results page.

Keyword research may help you come up with ideas for your next blog post, discover more about your audience's wants, and keep up with the ever-changing search landscape's terminology. Finding out what people type into search engines and using that information to generate tailored content will help you drive the correct traffic to your website.

Here are six quick and simple steps to get you started.

Step 1: Start with Your Own List of Keywords

Begin by thinking up ideas on your own. You're familiar with your company and the services you provide to customers, so you're undoubtedly aware of the phrases they're using to find you.

It's crucial to remember that Google has changed the way it handles search inquiries in recent years. Google is now putting a greater emphasis on ranking results based on user intent. Isn't it true that someone searching for "house renovation ideas" is looking for something different from someone searching for "top home remodeler in Kansas City"? The latter searcher is likely to be ready to begin tearing down walls and ripping out tiling, whilst the former may be daydreaming about renovating their kitchen someday in the future. the next couple of years. Therefore, the results are going to vary.

Google recognises that the intent behind those searches is vastly different, and as a result, they're now displaying results for those inquiries differently. Long-tail keywords are becoming increasingly significant for organisations as a result of the move toward semantic search.

While the keywords linked with your individual product pages and instructive content may be larger and more likely to catch searchers at various points of the customer journey, you want the keywords associated with your individual product pages and informative content to be more targeted.

If a home remodeler has separate pages for the many services they provide—kitchens, bathrooms, house extensions, and basement finishing, for example—this is a good sign. and so on—they should have long-tail keywords for each of those pages that speak to that subset of the broader audience.

Step 2: Turn to Auto-Suggest

Another great starting point for your content keyword research is to start searching in Google yourself. Autocomplete is a great to use early and often when developing content calendars and general organic search strategies. You can uncover quality long-tail phrases that are commonly searched across the web by your audience.

Take some of the broader keywords you’ve identified for your business and see what comes up in auto-suggest.

Let’s return to the home remodeling example. When you type in home remodel, you get some auto-suggestions that indicate a few trends. One is about technology; the fifth and sixth suggestion have to do with apps and software. The other is about financing; people often search about loans or government incentives associated with remodeling.

This tells you something important about what prospects are thinking about when considering remodeling for themselves. They’re worried about the financial aspect (we all know renovations aren’t cheap!), and they like the idea of being able to have a hand in the design process, accessing technology that can help them plan out and visualize their dream kitchen or bathroom.

If you don’t already have content on your website that speaks to those major areas of interest or concern, maybe it’s time to consider adding some! It’s also helpful to go through and click on those auto-suggestions to see what content does appear when you Google “home remodel incentive,” for example. Who is already ranking in those results? Are they direct competitors? Is there a gap in the type of information you can find in that search—one that you could fill with original content on your site?

Step 3: Check out the Competition and See How They’re Ranking For Your Keywords

While it’s important to think about your own strategy, it’s also a smart idea to consider what your competitors are up to. There are plenty of tools out there that can help you do some opposition research into the keywords your competitors are using.

A site like SEMrush can help you see your known competitor’s keywords, identify other potential competitors that you hadn’t previously considered, and monitor shifts in where your domain is ranking (you can access a free 14-day trial of SEMrush Pro using this link).

You can also spend some time on your competitors’ website. Take a look at how they organize their content. Is there a way for you to differentiate your site and content from theirs—a unique approach that you can take to sharing what you do?

Step 4: Ask Your Customers

You've already done a lot of keyword research on your own at this point. Now is the moment to get feedback from your customers. People that know and love your company may have a unique perspective on what makes it so remarkable, and this might help you uncover a vein of material you wouldn't have discovered on your own.

Do not consider this a difficult task. Asking for input can be as simple as mailing a quick survey or simply asking folks during a phone conversation.

There are a few questions to consider, such as:

"When you were looking for a solution to your problem, what search terms did you use?"

“What search terms ultimately led you to our business?”

Plus, it’s helpful to ask what it is that they think sets you apart from the competition; writing about what makes you different is a way to help your content stand out.

Step 5: Look at Google’s Keyword Planner (and Google Trends)

Once you’ve gathered up this bundle of keyword suggestions, it’s time to head to Google’s Keyword Planner tool. While it’s designed to work with paid search, it can also help direct your organic search efforts. Keyword Planner can help you get an idea of the right keywords you want to target by considering monthly search frequency, competition, and even cost-per-click (CPC) pricing.

 You do need a Google Ads account to access it, but once you’re in, you can begin to get information about the size of the audience you’ll be able to reach with each keyword, and more. 

Google Trends can help you determine which terms are trending upward, and are thus worth more of your focus. (This can be accessed without an ads account.)

For local businesses, it’s best to hone in on keywords that are not overly competitive and have a manageable reach. If you go for broad keywords that are highly competitive and can reach millions of people, it doesn’t do you much good. You’ll then find yourself coming up against giant brands, and you’ll never be able to rank well in that arena. Plus, you don’t need to reach tens of millions of people; you’re serving your specific community, so those are the people you want to see your name in SERPs.

Step 6: Create Hub Pages

Once you’ve settled on the keywords for your content, it’s important to mold the content itself to speak to the intent behind these keywords. You understand now what your audience wants, it’s time to create content that gives them just that.

I’ve talked a lot about building hub pages recently, and that’s because they’re an incredibly powerful tool when it comes to establishing trust and authority plus dominating in search results. Hub pages allow you to build what’s essentially a mini-Wikipedia for your area of expertise. You put all of your content related to a given topic on a hub page and tie it together in a way that addresses the questions a prospect might have.

Let's return to the case of the house remodeler. "The Ultimate Guide to Kitchen Remodeling" might be one of their hub pages. They'll link to content (blog posts, videos, podcasts) on that website that covers everything from early research to selecting finishes to project management once the refurbishment is underway.

You discovered that financing the project and employing technology in the design stages were critical issues for many homeowners through keyword research, so you want to incorporate material that tackles those topics.

With this hub page, you'll be able to provide a thorough overview of the entire kitchen renovation process. Not only does this help you establish yourself as an authority early in your prospects' research (increasing the likelihood that they'll come to you when they're ready to hire someone! ), but it also helps your SEO. Prospects linger on this hub page for a while since there's a lot to take in! They navigate back to the hub page after clicking on a handful of articles. They may even send a video to a buddy who is assisting them in selecting new appliances, or they may share an article with their spouse on the refurbishment process.

When visitors spend a lot of time on a single page, search engines recognise it as a rich source of information. They want to give the greatest results for their searchers, therefore they move your hub page up the SERPs so that it can be found by a larger audience.

Using your keyword research to assist your content development process is what great keyword research for content is all about. By conducting effective keyword research, you may discover a lot about search intent and what prospects are looking for. With this information, you can produce content that appeals to the interests and needs of those prospects, ensuring that you stand out from the crowd.